Studio is comprised of intensely immersive, interdisciplinary team experiences that provide all of our Master’s students with hands on, real world skills that challenge and expand their roles in their chosen fields.

Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute

The Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute is a cornerstone of Cornell Tech, sharing its broad mission of creating pioneering leaders and technologies for the digital age. At the same time, Jacobs is an independent entity, affording it an autonomy that allows radical experimentation with novel research, academic programs and entrepreneurial initiatives.

Founded as a joint academic venture between Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, the Jacobs Institute is an integral part of Cornell Tech, collaborating on research, sharing resources and embracing an overall vision.

The Jacobs Institute emphasizes a transdisciplinary view of science and encourages translational research that ultimately serves the worldwide common good, through a set of industry-focused “hubs” that address contemporary social and economic need around which research and academic programs are centered.

Advantageous Partnership

Endowed by a generous gift from Joan and Irwin Jacobs, the Institute is both part of Cornell Tech, and an independent academic partnership focused on digital science and technology without the constraints of a traditional university environment.

Academia Unbound

The Jacobs Institute represents a unique partnership of the world’s top two leading countries in high-tech entrepreneurship, adding a global perspective to Cornell Tech, combining Cornell’s commitment to discovery with impact and “any person, any study” ethos with the Technion’s global leadership in basic and applied research and reputation for entrepreneurship and startup excellence. Known as the “Startup Nation,” Israel is home to the greatest concentration of high-tech startup companies outside of the Silicon Valley. Furthermore, Technion graduates comprise the majority of Israeli-educated scientists and engineers, constituting over 70% of the country’s founders and managers of high-tech industries.

The Jacobs Institute and Cornell Tech have a seamless partnership, faculty operate as one, creating a unique interdisciplinary academic unit. Our students participate in a broad-based curriculum that gives them the foundation to be both technologists and leaders.

While Cornell Tech is, by design, a place that thrives on experimentation and innovation, even the most forward-thinking organization can use a “sandbox” in which to try out new ideas and push boundaries. The Jacobs Institute’s autonomy allows it to develop and explore exciting new ideas in research, pedagogy, and entrepreneurship.

Our programs are fluid — malleable efforts that can be changed as we learn—but a few tenets remain constant:

Transdisciplinary science. We marry elements of traditionally distinct disciplines to develop new ways of thinking about how the tools of technology and entrepreneurship can be applied to a host of human needs.

Translational tech. We turn innovative in-depth research into tech products and services that make a difference in people’s lives.

Common good. We are committed to creating solutions that have broad impact for populations around the world, especially those with acute social, medical or economic need.

Areas of Impact + Masters Programs

The Jacobs masters programs are two-year dual-degree programs that provide breadth in key areas of digital technology and unprecedented depth in need-driven specialization areas. The institute's two "hubs" of innovation focus on the current needs of industries where New York City's historical strengths lie. The Master’s degree programs are informed by these hubs. As social and economic need changes, so, too, will the focus of these hubs.

Connective Media
Focuses on the technology driving digital media, as well as the psychological, social and business forces at play in today’s connected media. Spans mining and analysis of structured and unstructured online sources; machine learning and big data; and mobile platforms.

Runway Startup Postdoc Program
The Runway Startup Postdoc Program is part business school, part research institution, and part startup incubator. Based at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Runway ushers recent PhDs in digital technology fields through a paradigm shift — from an academic mindset to an entrepreneurial outlook.

Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute Faculty

Shiri Azenkot

Shiri Azenkot is an assistant professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the Computer Science Department at the
Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. Her research interests are in accessibility and interaction on new platforms. She directs and conducts research with students at the Enhancing Ability Lab. Before Cornell Tech, Shiri was a PhD student in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington.

Ron Brachman

Ron Brachman is the Director of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute and a professor of Computer Science at Cornell University. He is responsible for the oversight of all Institute activities and programs, continuing to develop its vision and strategy and grow it into a completely new role model of innovation for graduate education. Prior to Cornell Tech, Ron had an outstanding career in research and leadership at Bell Labs, AT&T Labs, DARPA, and Yahoo Labs.

Nicola Dell

Nicki Dell is an assistant professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. Her research interests are in information and communication technologies for development (ICTD), human-computer interaction (HCI) and mobile computing. Her focus is on designing, building and evaluating systems that improve the lives of under-served populations in low income regions. Nicki completed her PhD in
Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington.

Deborah Estrin

Deborah Estrin is a Professor of Computer Science at Cornell Tech in New York City and a Professor of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College. She is founder of the
Health Tech Hub and directs the Small Data Lab at Cornell Tech, which develops new personal data APIs and applications for individuals to harvest the small data traces they generate daily. Estrin is also co-founder of the non-profit startup, Open mHealth.

C. Richard Johnson

C. Richard Johnson Jr. is the Fellow in Computational Arts and Humanities at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, as well as the Geoffrey S. M. Hedrick Senior Professor of Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University. He received a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1977 along with a PhD minor in Art History. He has been on the Cornell University faculty since 1981 and joined Cornell Tech in 2016.

Wendy Ju

Dr. Wendy Ju is an Assistant Professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech in the Information Science program. Dr. Ju comes to Cornell Tech from the Center for Design Research at Stanford University, where she was Executive Director of Interaction Design Research, and from the California College of the Arts, where she was an Associate Professor of Interaction Design in the Design MFA program. Her work in the areas of human-robot interaction and automated vehicle interfaces highlights the ways that interactive devices can communicate and engage people without interrupting or intruding.

Ari Juels

Ari Juels is a professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech in NYC. He was previously Chief Scientist of RSA, The Security Division of EMC. His recent interests include cloud security, defensive uses of deception, security for machine learning, cryptocurrencies and smart contracts. He is a co-director of
IC3 (Initiative for CryptoCurrencies and Contracts).

Mor Naaman

Mor Naaman is an associate professor at Cornell Tech where he is the founder of the Connective Media hub and leads the
Social Technologies research group and the Connected Experiences lab. Previously, Mor was an assistant professor at Rutgers SC&I, led a research team at Yahoo! Research Berkeley, and got a PhD from Stanford. Mor’s research lab designs, builds, and studies systems that support social interactions in online and physical spaces.

Joan & Irwin Jacobs

On April 22, 2013, Dr. Irwin Mark Jacobs, Founding Chairman and CEO Emeritus of Qualcomm, and his wife Joan Klein Jacobs, announced a $133 million gift to Cornell University and the Technion to create the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. Read more about this historic gift in the
Cornell Chronicle.